Published: Thursday, December 12, 2013 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, December 11, 2013 at 8:16 p.m.

ROSMAN — When Ricky Maybin first saw the white bird Saturday as he drove down his driveway off Calvert Road, he thought perhaps it was one of the barn owls that nest on his 12-acre farm.

“I knew it was an owl, but I never dreamed of it being a snowy owl,” Maybin said. After all, who would think they'd see an arctic predator thousands of miles south of its native range? And the auto mechanic surely never imagined the owl in his yard would put the birding world all atwitter.

“I didn't know that it was a big thing,” Maybin said. “The first five (bird-watchers) that came, the lady who I think is the head of their group, she told me, 'Do you care if I tell people?' I said, 'No, you go right ahead.' I had no idea how many would show up.”

By Monday, at least 300 birders from as far away as South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee had descended on Maybin's farm in the upper French Broad River valley to glimpse the rare owl, the first known sighting of a snowy owl in Western North Carolina in modern history.

“I just can't believe one bird could draw that much attention,” Maybin said.

They do when they're Harry Potter's charismatic pet in the movies, and when few people have ever laid eyes on one in real life. Reports of the iconic owl lit up the birder message boards and list serves, drawing hordes of optic-toting hopefuls to Calvert Road despite rain and cold weather.

“There's a lot of bird nerds out there,” said Steve Atkins, a Weaverville-based photographer who drove over to snap pictures of the owl Monday. “And when someone finds something cool, the word spreads pretty quickly.”

In North America, snowy owls breed in the open tundra of Alaska and Canada, normally venturing as far south in winter as southern Canada and the northern U.S. But major “irruptions,” or southerly migrations, of snowy owls occur every few years when their populations outstrip the availability of prey.

2013 has been a banner year for errant snowy owls, according to ornithologists. One was spotted in Bermuda this winter and North Carolina, which has logged just one inland sighting since 1953, has recorded at least five snowy owls this year — including the first known Western North Carolina sighting since 1891.

“It's such a very, very cool sighting,” said Simon Thompson, owner of Ventures Birding Tours and co-owner of Wild Birds Unlimited in Asheville. Not only are snowy owls photogenic, (just ask Harry Potter filmmakers), they are rarely seen because their circumpolar breeding territory “is not exactly accessible to most people,” he said.

Although snowy owls are uncommon winter visitors along the coast — one was spotted last winter on Tybee Island in Georgia — they are rarely seen this far west in North Carolina. Thompson and other bird experts suspect the Calvert Road owl is a young female who kept moving south through the mountains in search of food until she grew too weak to go further.

Returning to the wild

Maybin's neighbor, Will Kilpatrick, had seen the bird at a distance about two weeks ago near the river but couldn't identify it. Then, on Saturday morning, he looked out his kitchen window and saw the owl on the ground nearby. It was a birthday present he'll never forget.

“It was pretty overwhelming,” said Kilpatrick. “To turn 50 years old and you've got a white owl out your window. That was pretty cool.”

On Monday, the owl returned to his yard and this time, Kilpatrick could tell something wasn't quite right with it. The bird was limping and seemed to be bracing itself with its wings. One of the 75 birders who arrived that day offered to fetch some feeder mice from his son's pet snake provisions.

“When she first locked onto the mouse, she had to come up a small incline,” Kilpatrick said. “The way she approached the mouse, she was not graceful at all. I knew in the back of my mind, I had to do something. I knew this bird had landed here for a reason.”

Kilpatrick called Carlton Burke, a state-certified wildlife rehabilitator who runs Carolina Mountain Naturalists in Mills River. Using thick leather gloves, Burke easily captured the owl, which couldn't fly and was grossly underweight and dehydrated. He said Kilpatrick called in the nick of time.

“This bird is probably half the weight it should be, at a minimum,” Burke said. “It could've fallen over and died at any time.”

Burke took the owl, which he nicknamed “Tundra,” to a veterinarian for a full work-up, including bloodwork and X-rays to make sure it didn't have a fractured limb or shotgun pellets lodged in its skin.

“Since it's a such a rare case, we didn't want to overlook anything,” he said.

Tundra was uninjured, but blood tests revealed an elevated white blood cell count, perhaps an indication that an infection left her too weak to hunt, Burke said. After stabilizing the owl's electrolyte levels, he started Tundra on a course of antibiotics and is hand-feeding her mice to gradually increase her weight.

“It's gotten over the first critical stage,” Burke said. “I'm pretty hopeful at this point in time.”

Burke said it will take at least “several weeks” of feeding and rehabilitation before Tundra is ready to be released back into the wild. Kilpatrick is urging bird lovers to help Tundra's recuperation by donating funds to Carolina Mountain Naturalists, to help fund the hundreds of mice necessary to rebuild her weight.

“If I was hurting and starving, I would hope that somebody helped me out,” Kilpatrick said.

<p>ROSMAN — When Ricky Maybin first saw the white bird Saturday as he drove down his driveway off Calvert Road, he thought perhaps it was one of the barn owls that nest on his 12-acre farm.</p><p>“I knew it was an owl, but I never dreamed of it being a snowy owl,” Maybin said. After all, who would think they'd see an arctic predator thousands of miles south of its native range? And the auto mechanic surely never imagined the owl in his yard would put the birding world all atwitter.</p><p>“I didn't know that it was a big thing,” Maybin said. “The first five (bird-watchers) that came, the lady who I think is the head of their group, she told me, 'Do you care if I tell people?' I said, 'No, you go right ahead.' I had no idea how many would show up.”</p><p>By Monday, at least 300 birders from as far away as South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee had descended on Maybin's farm in the upper French Broad River valley to glimpse the rare owl, the first known sighting of a snowy owl in Western North Carolina in modern history.</p><p>“I just can't believe one bird could draw that much attention,” Maybin said. </p><p>They do when they're Harry Potter's charismatic pet in the movies, and when few people have ever laid eyes on one in real life. Reports of the iconic owl lit up the birder message boards and list serves, drawing hordes of optic-toting hopefuls to Calvert Road despite rain and cold weather.</p><p>“There's a lot of bird nerds out there,” said Steve Atkins, a Weaverville-based photographer who drove over to snap pictures of the owl Monday. “And when someone finds something cool, the word spreads pretty quickly.”</p><p>In North America, snowy owls breed in the open tundra of Alaska and Canada, normally venturing as far south in winter as southern Canada and the northern U.S. But major “irruptions,” or southerly migrations, of snowy owls occur every few years when their populations outstrip the availability of prey.</p><p>2013 has been a banner year for errant snowy owls, according to ornithologists. One was spotted in Bermuda this winter and North Carolina, which has logged just one inland sighting since 1953, has recorded at least five snowy owls this year — including the first known Western North Carolina sighting since 1891.</p><p>“It's such a very, very cool sighting,” said Simon Thompson, owner of Ventures Birding Tours and co-owner of Wild Birds Unlimited in Asheville. Not only are snowy owls photogenic, (just ask Harry Potter filmmakers), they are rarely seen because their circumpolar breeding territory “is not exactly accessible to most people,” he said.</p><p>Although snowy owls are uncommon winter visitors along the coast — one was spotted last winter on Tybee Island in Georgia — they are rarely seen this far west in North Carolina. Thompson and other bird experts suspect the Calvert Road owl is a young female who kept moving south through the mountains in search of food until she grew too weak to go further.</p><p><b>Returning to the wild</b></p><p>Maybin's neighbor, Will Kilpatrick, had seen the bird at a distance about two weeks ago near the river but couldn't identify it. Then, on Saturday morning, he looked out his kitchen window and saw the owl on the ground nearby. It was a birthday present he'll never forget.</p><p>“It was pretty overwhelming,” said Kilpatrick. “To turn 50 years old and you've got a white owl out your window. That was pretty cool.”</p><p>On Monday, the owl returned to his yard and this time, Kilpatrick could tell something wasn't quite right with it. The bird was limping and seemed to be bracing itself with its wings. One of the 75 birders who arrived that day offered to fetch some feeder mice from his son's pet snake provisions.</p><p>“When she first locked onto the mouse, she had to come up a small incline,” Kilpatrick said. “The way she approached the mouse, she was not graceful at all. I knew in the back of my mind, I had to do something. I knew this bird had landed here for a reason.”</p><p>Kilpatrick called Carlton Burke, a state-certified wildlife rehabilitator who runs Carolina Mountain Naturalists in Mills River. Using thick leather gloves, Burke easily captured the owl, which couldn't fly and was grossly underweight and dehydrated. He said Kilpatrick called in the nick of time.</p><p>“This bird is probably half the weight it should be, at a minimum,” Burke said. “It could've fallen over and died at any time.”</p><p>Burke took the owl, which he nicknamed “Tundra,” to a veterinarian for a full work-up, including bloodwork and X-rays to make sure it didn't have a fractured limb or shotgun pellets lodged in its skin. </p><p>“Since it's a such a rare case, we didn't want to overlook anything,” he said.</p><p>Tundra was uninjured, but blood tests revealed an elevated white blood cell count, perhaps an indication that an infection left her too weak to hunt, Burke said. After stabilizing the owl's electrolyte levels, he started Tundra on a course of antibiotics and is hand-feeding her mice to gradually increase her weight.</p><p>“It's gotten over the first critical stage,” Burke said. “I'm pretty hopeful at this point in time.”</p><p>Burke said it will take at least “several weeks” of feeding and rehabilitation before Tundra is ready to be released back into the wild. Kilpatrick is urging bird lovers to help Tundra's recuperation by donating funds to Carolina Mountain Naturalists, to help fund the hundreds of mice necessary to rebuild her weight.</p><p>“If I was hurting and starving, I would hope that somebody helped me out,” Kilpatrick said. </p><p>To contribute to Tundra's rehabilitation, non-tax deductible contributions can be mailed to Carolina Mountain Naturalists, 3150 N. Mills River Road, Mills River, N.C. 28759.</p><p><b>Reach Axtell at 828-694-7860 or Than.Axtell@blueridgenow.com. </b></p>